of the former, but of the Brandt's Cor- 

 morant there were upwards of two hun- 

 dred pairs. Their nests covered the top 

 of the rock, every available situation being 

 occupied. Standing in one place I counted 

 one hundred and eighteen." 



He also states that the Cormorants re- 

 mained on the nests till he fired his gun 

 and the)' lingered on the edge of the 

 rock while he walked among the nests a 

 few yards away. On the rock were many 

 piles of sardines, evidently placed near the 

 nests for the use of the sitting bird. 



The nests are nearly circular when 

 placed on top of the rocks, and are usu- 

 ally constructed of eel grass. They are 

 generally placed in the most inaccessi- 

 ble places and at various heights above 

 the surface of the water. The Cormor- 

 ants frequent the same locality from 

 year to year and experience considerable 

 difficulty in constructing their nests be- 

 cause of the gulls which frequently carry 

 away the material as fast as it can be 

 gathered. The young, when first hatched, 

 are entirely devoid of plumage and their 

 skin resembles a "greasy, black kid 

 glove." It is said that the gulls feed upon 

 these young birds. 



Mr.' Frank M. Woodruff relates the fol- 

 lowing observations, made during a re- 

 cent trip to California. He says : 



"The Brandt's Cormorant is the com- 

 mon species wintering in Southern Cali- 



fornia. Like the California brown pelican 

 and the surf ducks, only the juvenile birds 

 are found in the bay close to the city of 

 San Diego. As one rows about the har- 

 bor close to the shipping docks and by the 

 old deserted fishermen's huts along the 

 slips, large numbers of Brandt's Cormor- 

 ants and pelicans can be seen perched on 

 and almost covering the sunny sides of 

 the roof tops. They sit in rows like sen- 

 tinels with the head well down upon the 

 shoulders, undisturbed by the noise of 

 traffic and only by continued rapping on 

 the building with an oar can they be in- 

 duced to take to flight. They will usually 

 circle for a short time in a lazy manner 

 and then return to their old position. The 

 older birds are rather more wary and 

 usually feed a mile or so from the shore, 

 in flocks of from three to ten. The loose 

 kelp floating in the bay attracts the small- 

 er fish. Such places form their feeding 

 grounds. After they become gorged with 

 fish, they fly to the rocks along the jetties 

 and to the cross bars of the buoys, which 

 mark the deep water channels. The birds 

 are perfect gluttons, and as I lifted it into 

 the boat there dropped from the gular 

 sack of one specimen that I shot, over 

 twenty small fish. The beautiful irides- 

 cence of the dark copper-green plumage 

 of the adult Cormorant can only be appre- 

 ciated when the freshly killed bird is 

 seen." Seth Mindwell. 



MATE, OR PARAGUAY TEA. 



It is a trite saying, but a very true one, 

 that one-half the world does not know- 

 how the other half lives. This will ap- 

 ply to food and drink, as well as to other 

 things, so widely do customs vary in 

 different regions. 



While tea, coffee and chocolate, all 

 products of warm climates, have come 

 into general use as table drinks over the 

 greater portion of the globe, so as to be 

 universally known, there is a beverage of 

 similar use, the favorite of millions, 

 which is practically unknown to the world 

 at large. 



Mate (two syllables) is the name of 

 the prepared leaves of a shrub or tree 

 belonging to the Rhamses family, and 

 has the scientific name of Cassine gon- 

 honha, but is more generally known as 

 Ilex paraguayensis, as it was first used 

 by the Indians of Paraguay. It belongs 

 to the natural crder of the holly, to which 

 it bears much resemblance. Its leaves 

 are six to eight inches long, short stalked, 

 oblong, wedge-shaped, and finely toothed 

 at the margin. The small white, flowers 

 are borne in clusters at the axils of the 

 leaves. It bears a four-seeded berry, but 



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